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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

BEYOND HYPER-PARTISANSHIP: Comments Are Welcome And Won't Be Censored; Here's an "Ironic" One That's Staying Up On Giffords Post

I have always welcomed comments on this blog, and I do not plan on censoring any unless they clearly cross the bounds of decency, or are spam. Comments that are in bad taste/obnoxious/etc. often are instructive nonetheless.

My simple post putting up the video of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-CD8) reading the First Amendment on the floor of Congress two days before the assassination attempt/murder spree has become one of my most-read/viewed posts (and has introduced a number of readers to this blog). (It continues to receive many hits.)

I received a few e-mails and a couple of phone calls from the new readers - all of them complimentary. Thanks. However, only a couple of people posted their thoughts online. Perhaps because their comments were about the Congresswoman and not about the blog.

One of the commenters apparently decided to unleash on a couple of Democrats in Congress who "used the opportunity" of the "discussion" ensuing after the shooting to raise the issue of the "Fairness Doctrine". In it, he labeled them as "liberal fascists ( ) demanding" that the freedoms of speech and press be "taken away". (His full comment, and my response, are re-posted at the bottom of this commentary.)

This comment falls under the category of "the rhetoric that ridicules and demonizes people with whom you (or your party) do not agree with"; I used that phrase hours before the anonymous commenter let fly with his (or - less likely - "her") vitriol. And, as I said earlier in this post, some comments are "instructive".

******Text of comment: "What irony. Rep. Giffords reads the 1st Amendment on the floor of Congress on Jan 6. ﻿ In response to her tragic shooting at the hands of a paranoid schizophrenic two days later, the liberal fascists are demanding Congress take away the people's freedoms of speech and the press."

Text of my response:

@wrthomas: Sure glad you didn't post your "liberal fascists are demanding..." comment on the (re-)post I made earlier on the 12th ("Only in...").

@all: By the way, if you unfocus your eyes on Giffords' jacket (above), you might be able to make out a 3D version of the Catalina Mountains.

If you refocus on the Congresswoman, you might see a strong, determined woman who doesn't just talk the bi-partisan talk and actually walks the walk.

Her obvious inner determination displayed the past less-than-two-weeks has been nothing short of miraculous and inspiring - no matter whether you're a liberal fascist, a conservative fascist or any other of the (ahem, fascistic) political epithets that have been thrown around too frequently!